Closure for bottles and the like



6 Jan. 27, 1953 R.-F. coLroN CLOSURE FOR BOTTLES AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 8, 1951 llllllllll I the' bottle neck.

Patented Jan. 27, 1953 CLOSURE FOR BOTTLES AND THE LIKE Ralph F. Colton, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Dry- Freeze Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 8, 1951, Serial No. 210,033

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to closures for bottles and the like and particularly to closures for dilution bottles containing cultures or similar products. that must be kept in sterile condition While being dried, and thereafter.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved closure which when initially placed loosely on and in an associated bottle is held slightly raised above a limited portion of the bottle top to permit vapors to escape the bottle during a drying operation, but which is capable of completely effectively closing the bottle when the. drying operation has been completed.

I have accomplished my above stated object by using a pad of soft flexible rubber or rubberlike material adapted to cover and for the most part closea bottle mouth but having downwardly projecting. minute spurs .engageable with the bottleneck initially to hold the pad proper very slightly spaced from'the neck at one or more points. so as .to afiord but a re'quisite'minimum of ventilationlfor' the bottle interior. The spurs desirably presentdow'nwardly converging edges for engagement with the interior of the bottle neck and such spurs are so located on the pad, and with respect to each other, as to insure that one or more of them shall overlie the neck of the bottle when the pad is initially placed loosely on and in the bottle. Pressure downwardly on such a pad, as after a drying operation, causes all of the spurs to wedge against the interior of the bottle neck with resultant downward buckling of the central portion of the pad to place the margin of its undersurface in tight and comma one contact with Itheann'ular upper surface of Glass bottles ordinarily employed fOr containingand preserving cultures and similar products are not formed with any high degree of accuracy as to either size or shape. However, I have found that by'providing a triad of downwardly extending prongs on the bottom face of each pad, with the aforementioned spurs in the nature of fillets between the near surface of the pad and the outer surface portions of the prongs, the non-uniformity of the bottles ceasestopresent any serious practical difficulty.

Other advantages of my invention will appear from the following description wherein reference is made to the accompanying sheet of drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a completely sealed bottle provided with my improved closure;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view, on a substantially enlarged scale, through the upper portion of a bottle like, the one of Fig. l but without the metal sealing instrumentalities which hold the closure against escape from the bottle;

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of myv improved bottle closure; r

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a changed position and configuration of the stopper and depicting, additionally, the metalv sealing instrumentalities previously mentioned; and.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the improved closure.

Similar characters of reference refer to. similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings I0 indicates a glass bottle of approved and conventional type which, in its filled condition, desirably is provided with sealing instrumentalities II. The sealing instrumentalities ll preferably are formed of thin aluminumand comprise a. disk I2 and a collar |3. When properly applied, as depicted in Figs. 1. and 4, the collar I3 overlies the upper periphe ial margin of the disk [2 and engages under the external downwardly presented annular shoulder ofv the bottle neck.

After a bottle H] has received an appropriate quantity of a culture or serum or similar product that is to be dried and preserved, a pad I4 is loosely placed thereon and therein as depicted in Fig. 2. The pad I 4, desirably being. circular in shape, is suitably formed of soft flexible rubber or a synthetic rubber-like material. It is pro Vided with a triad of integral downwardly projecting prongs, I5 which serve approximately to center the pad in positionon the bottle neck as depicted in Fig. .2. v I

Inow call attention to the spurs l6. They are salient features of my invention and very essential to the successful functioning of my improved bottleclosure. Each of these spurs I6 is integral with the pad 14 and one of its downwardly extending prongs it. Each spur I6 is in fact a fillet occupying the angle between the undersurface of the, pad l4 and the adjacent outwardly presented surface portion of its associated prong 15. Each spur l6 desirably presents an edge I1 for, engagement with the upper inner edge portion of an associated bottle, and the several spur edges [1 converge downwardly as is clearly indicated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

Those points on the spur edges I! which lie closest to the undersurface of pad M are disposed in a circle that is slightly greater than the inside diameter of the top of the bottle neck. Therefore, when a pad M has been initially loosely disposed on and in a bottle neck, as depicted in Figure 2, at least one of the spurs l6 slightly overlies the bottle top, in consequence of which the pad is held definitely but very slightly above the bottle top in the region or regions where each of one or more spurs I6 overlies the bottle top. This definite but extremely slight clearance, in one or more regions between the pad I4 and the bottle top, is very important. It affords sui'ficient ventilation for the bottle interior during a drying operation and at the same time enables me to retain the bottle contents in a sterile condition during the drying operation even though completely sterile conditions are not maintained within a receptacle that contains the bottle during the drying operation.

The details of the apparatus and method employed in performing the dryingoperation to which I have alluded are not vitally important. However, I will say that such drying operation suitably may be performed by means of the method and apparatus disclosed in Levinson and Oppenheimer Patent No. 2,445,120, dated July 13, 1948.

When the contents of a bottle I have been subjected to the requisite drying operation the sealing instrumentalities ll (being conventional) are applied. The application of these sealing instrumentalities presses the marginal portions of the pad downwardly to cause all of the spurs It to lie within the upper inner diameter of the bottle neck. At the time that all of the spurs iii are brought within the inner diameter of the bottle neck, the downwardly converging edges 11 of those spurs have camming cooperation with the inner upper edge of the bottle neck to cause a downward buckling of the central portion of the pad to eifect final centering of the pad with respect to the bottle neck and to permit the under marginal surface of the pad to have tight and continuous enga ement with the bottle top, all as indicated in Figure 4.

The use by physicians and others of closed and sealed dilution bottles, of the kind to which my invention relates, is now well known and need I not be described in the instant specification.

Having thus illustrated and described a preiferred embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A closure for a dilution bottle or the like comprising a pad formed of a relatively soft and deformable material, a triad of centering projections formed integrally with and extending downwardly from the pad and all spaced from the side edge of the pad, and a triad of spurs for engaging the upper inner edge of a bottle neck to hold the pad slightly raised above the bottle neck in the region of at least one of said spurs when the closure is loosely disposed in and on the bottle neck, each of said spurs being formed integrally with the pad and one of said projections in an angle therebetween, said spurs presenting downwardly converging edges to the upper interior edge of a bottle neck with which the closure is associated, and said spurs being so located relatively to the pad and each other that all of them 4 will lie interiorly of the associated bottle neck, to permit the margin of the undersurface of the pad to make continuous contact with the top of the bottle neck when the central portion of the pad buckles downwardly within the bottle neck.

2. A closure for a dilution bottle or the like, the closure being formed of a relatively soft and deformable material and comprising a pad, a plurality of spaced centering projections extending from one side of the pad from regions thereof and being spaced radially inwardly from the periphery thereof, and a plurality of spurs formed between the said one side of the pad and the outer sides of the projections, the pad being approximately as thick outward of the projections as inward of the projections.

3. A closure for a dilution bottle or the like comprising a pad formed of a relatively soft and deformable material, a plurality of centering projections formed integrally with and extending downwardly from the pad and all spaced from the side edge of the pad, and a plurality of spurs for engaging the upper inner edge of a bottle neck to hold the pad slightly raised above the bottle neck in the region of at least one of said spurs when the closure is loosely disposed in and on the bottle neck, each of said spurs being formed integrally with the pad and one of said projections in an angle therebetween, said spurs presenting downwardly converging edges to the upper interior edge of a bottle neck with which the closure is associated, and said spurs being so located relatively to the pad and each other that all of them will lie interiorly of the associated bottle neck, to permit the margin of the undersurface of the pad to make continuous contact with the top of the bottle neck when pressure is applied to the marginal portions of the pad, the central portions of the pad being generally as thin as the marginal portions so as to be capable of buckling downwardly within the bottle neck in response to the pressure applied to make the spurs lie interiorly of the bottle neck.

RALPH F. COLTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 311,431 Hoyt Jan. 27, 1885 647,233 Lyon Apr. 10, 1900 1,595,324 Van Sant Aug. 10, 1926 1,876,152 Sheafier Sept. 6, 1932 1,951,924 Clark Mar. 20, 1934 2,287,746 Morton June 23, 1942 2,353,674 Kimber July 18, 1944 2,387,955 Tilson Oct. 30, 1945 2,572,101 Bloch Oct. 23, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 539,891 Great Britain Sept. 26, 1941 

